Gettin' Schooled
by PaperKat
Summary: Companion to Starhawk's First Series. Ashley has a not so secret secret. Set before First Love.


Gettin' Schooled

Written by PaperKat

"…and it doesn't hurt that he's cute. See, I told you you left it in here."

Zhane started at the sound of Astrea's voice from the other side of the shower partition and dropped his shirt. He hadn't expected to run in to anyone there, since she and Ashley were suppose to be out roller bladeing, Andros was at a meeting or something and Ty was visiting his sister.

"Karone, have I told you lately how much I appreciate you doing this for me?" Ashley asked pleadingly, the sound of clothing being pulled off and then on again was easy to recognize.

"Only about a hundred times, but I could stand to hear it a few more. After all, I _have_ been risking my brother's wraith by keeping your little rendezvous a secret." 

Zhane just about swallowed his tongue. Secret rendezvous? 

"I know, I feel awful about that, but… I need this Karone. With the way things are between me, Andros and Zhane I can't go to them, and Ty's completely out of the question." Ashley told her friend, frustration in her voice. 

"You know that if I was able…"

"I know, and if it were possible I'd prefer you, but this is the best solution."

What could he or Andros give her that she wouldn't ask of Ty and Astrea couldn't give? His eyes widen as only one thing came to mind, but he fought the idea back with logic. Ashley just wouldn't do that, with someone else, other than Andros that is, not that she was doing anything with Andros right now, but still?

"I'm surprised that you've been able to keep this a secret for this long. You a Ranger sneaking off to be with a cute guy." Astrea actually sounded like she was teasing Ashley about this! 

"It's bound to catch someone's attention sooner or later. What's to stop him from telling or his friends from telling?"

His friends!? How many people knew that Ashley was…. doing what she was doing behind their back?

"They all promised that they wouldn't, but I know that things just slip out sometimes. Hopefully by then I won't need this anymore and it won't be an issue."

"What are you going to do if Andros finds out?"

Yeah, what are you going to do when Andros finds out and it shatters his heart and any hope we had that our relationship would work, he thought angrily. 

"Tell him the truth and hope he understands."

Understands?! What could possibly make her think that Andros would understand why she stepped out on him? A little voice inside is head told him, 'He forgave you, didn't he?'

"I still don't see why you don't go to Andros or Zhane. One's your boyfriend and…"

"…the other one is my boyfriend's boyfriend. I had thought about it, you know, with Zhane, but…"

But, what! Zhane wanted to scream at her when she sighed dejectedly.

"It's just too much - there's too much emotion between all of us and not all of it's good. They're too much for me right now Karone. All around this is just the better way. Plus, I'm getting a lot more out of it than I had planned!" Ashley told her friend excitedly.

"Well, you better hurry. We're going to be late."

"Oh, no! I can't be late again! He'll never forgive me!"

You should be more worried about if we'll forgive you, Zhane thought to himself as he listened to the girls leave. He angrily shoved his shirt back on and made his way over to the door. He cracked it open and watched Astrea and Ashley disappear around the corner. Once out of sight, he crept his way to the turn and cautiously looked around.

"Who are you stalking?"

Zhane jumped and let out a very unbecoming screech. He flattened himself to the wall and when Ty tried to look around the corner Zhane pulled him back.

"I'm trying to follow Ashley." Zhane hissed quietly.

"She's going bladeing or whatever you call it, with Astrea, why do you need to follow her?" Ty asked speaking at normal volume.

Zhane made quiet motions but Ty just raised his eyebrow. "I'm following her because she's not going with Astrea. She meeting some guy. What are you doing here?"

"My sister wasn't feeling too well so we decided to reschedule, and what do you mean Ashley's meeting some guy?"

"Look," Zhane glanced around the corner and saw that it was clear. "I don't have time to explain, but I heard the girls talking and it seems that all these times that they have been 'roller bladeing' Ashley's been seeing some guy."

"That doesn't sound like Ashley." Ty said absently, then he fixed his gaze on Zhane. "Zhane, why don't you just ask her what's going on. I'm sure there is a perfectly good explanation."

"I don't have time to argue, she's getting away. Are you coming with me or staying?"

"Let's see stay here with nothing to do or go with you to see you make a fool out of yourself… Let's go!"

Ashley pulled self consciously at her flowing green and gold tank top styled shirt as she looked around the Ranger complex. She knew that if anyone saw her in this get-up that they would know what she was up to, but it couldn't be helped. She was already going to be late and she didn't have time to find a cover-up.

Normally Karone would just 'zap' them over to the school but today of all days her friend had been caught by Marsie wanting something or another. Ashley sighed as she once again checked the single button holding her matching dangerously loose harem style pants up and walked outside. She just didn't have time to wait until Karone was free to 'hitch' a ride. Ashley knew that Karone was right in that it was only a matter of time before her secret activities were known, but until then she was going to enjoy these afternoon get-aways for as long as she could.

It was amazing how a slight change of wardrobe could render someone almost invisible. On Earth her outfit would have drawn stares in and of it's self, but here on KO-35 it was such a common site, despite her age, that no one saw the Ranger underneath.

The exceedingly loose top she wore was covered in whirls of gold and moss green that denoted her skill level, as were the pants. The whole thing made Ashley think of her pajamas that she had just changed out of. Even the shoes on her feet were nothing more than light slippers. She felt like she was running around in her nightclothes, but she didn't draw even one second look.

Ashley blushed when she remembered the time she had gotten a once over and she had been pretty sure it had more to do with her lack of undergarments than he had known that she was a Ranger. If it wasn't for the fact that the outfit she wore was traditional and that she had seen other citizens in identical styled clothes, both boys and girls, she would have thought that someone had played a joke on her.

Ashley caught a look at the time in the tower above the Kerovan equivalent of an Elementary school and grimaced. Putting on a bit more speed she ran the rest of the way around the building to the secluded glade around back. She barreled through the vine-covered archway and skidded to a stop when ten pairs of eyes turned her way.

"You are late, Ashley Hammond."

Even though the words were softly spoken with no hint of malice they still had the power to make her cringe. There was a small series of snickers through the group that was quickly silenced when their teacher slid his ice blue gaze over them.

"I'm sorry, Garwren. My regular ride was unavailable."

One slim pure white eyebrow arched upward as he smiled slightly. "The lack of fireworks was quite telling, but if you are now ready we can begin."

The elegant elderly man swept his arm in the direction of this other pupils, his floor length sleeve brushing across the ground, indicating to her to take her place. Bowing her head to avoid Garwren's gaze, Ashley quickly kicked her shoes into the pile with the other's, not fearing that they would be lost in the mix.

Her classmates shifted in their semi-circle to allow her room and Ashley took her spot next to her partner. She sat down on the soft green grass, her legs bent before her, but not crossed.

That had been one of the first lessons in Theory that she had learned in class. Tight or restrictive clothing was believed to block the energy flow, therefore all clothing worn in practice was loose and flowing. Also nothing on the body should be crossed, not legs or arms or fingers. Even your hair was required to be unbound.

It made Ashley wonder how Andros did telekinesis at all with the fight suits that he wore, his hair pulled back and his eyebrows crossed in an almost permanent scowl. The image of a cross eyed Andros flashed in her mind and Ashley had to smile. She just couldn't see Andros wearing this outfit and learning telekinesis for the first time. Of course she had a hard time picturing Andros as a child.

A small hand slipped into her own and Ashley looked down into the angelic face of her partner. He really is cute, she thought with a grin remembering what Karone had told her earlier. Lasey was 'almost seven' as he was fond of reminding her. His unusual curly black hair fell all around his round face almost obscuring his pale green eyes. 

The urge to try and tuck his locks behind his ear was almost overwhelming even though she knew it would be useless. Instead Ashley squeezed his fingers gently before pulling her own hair behind her ears. Lasey tried to copy but the too long to be short, too short to be long hair immediately slipped back out.

"Today we are going to discuss the existence of energy and power within all living creatures."

Garwren placed one arm on top of the other and regarded his students. Ashley fought hard not to lose track of her instructor's line of logic. His voice was so soft and deep it was sometimes difficult to listen to him without wanting to close her eyes and just absorb the sound. Ashley wondered how the other students who were much younger than she was could stay focused.

After discreetly inquiring about classes in telekinesis, Ashley found that they were a normal part of the school children's activities not a part of a special training like she had first thought. The difference between this class and their other classes was that students were grouped by ability not age.

The class that she was currently in was level three, something above a beginner but below a full user. In all, the Kerovans had made ten levels. The first five were for all citizens, mainly because most could not progress beyond that. The other five levels were for special students that showed unusual talent. From what she had been told less than one percent of people made it past level eight.

One of the things that Ashley had come to learn once she came to live on KO-35, had been that Andros was very serious about the fact that anyone could learn telekinesis, what he hadn't told her was that most people didn't use it. Ashley kind of thought of it like singing. People who were good singers for the most part displayed their talents, those that were bad kept their mouth shut. But even good singers didn't sing all the time. 

Ty never used telekinesis because he said they had enough trouble with out him breaking things too. The Black Ranger had became Ashley's 'what a normal Kerovan was like' yard stick since she had no friends outside the rangers and Andros, Zhane and Karone were anything but normal. Although she supposed being displaced from your home because of evil invaders wasn't exactly normal, but it was an experience that all of the colony had to suffer through so Ty wasn't alone. 

She loved talking to Ty, hearing about his childhood, his school days, his old workdays and if she was real lucky sometimes he'd mention his life with Ryse. Ty guarded his memories of his dead lover jealously, but what little he had said Ashley could tell that he had loved him very much. But Ty was very open about everything else in his life, including the, what he considered to be the embarrassing fact, that he had only reached level four in his telekinesis.

Garwren was a level nine as was indicated by his gray robes. Because of his high level he had been given the task of teaching the… special students. Everyone in his class had a particular oddity in the use of telekinesis that made it difficult to place them in a regular class. Ashley's were a couple of things: 1) she was older than most students (the average age of peaked ability was twelve), 2) she had a disproportionate amount of power to her control and 3) she was a Ranger and would have attracted too much attention in a regular class.

"It is most strikingly obvious that the Kerovan people do not singularly possess the ability to manipulate these energies by our own Ashley Hammond."

Ashley blinked when her name was mentioned and wondered how much she had missed daydreaming. One of the older students, all of ten years old, raised his hand to comment.

"But Ashley is a Ranger. Doesn't the Power make her able to perform telekinesis?"

Most of the students turned her way when Garwren addressed her. "Ashley, how long have you been a Ranger?"

"A little over three years." 

"And during all that time were you aware of your ability to perform telekinesis?" 

"No." She responded, puzzled by his choice of words.

"Have any of your fellow teammates been able to perform telekinesis?"

"Only Andros and Zhane."

"And they were trained as children, were they not?"

Ashley nodded her head in agreement, but still wondered where this line of questioning was going. 

"Would it not have been useful to you and the other Rangers to be able to use telekinesis?"

Ashley didn't even have to think about it. "Oh, yeah." Her very distinctly Earth expression drew a few giggles and a smile from Garwren. 

"It is my understanding that once the Power has been given to an individual that with it comes inherent knowledge on how to use your abilities." Again Ashley only nodded. "So it would stand to reason that if telekinesis was apart of your Ranger abilities that you would have been able to control it and know of it from the start."

There was a chorus of 'ohhs' from the class including one from Ashley herself. A sense of pride washed over her to think that her abilities, no matter how small they seemed to her, were truly her own. She had always wondered if her Powers had something to do with her abilities.

"Are there any other energy related abilities that you possess that are not shared by your teammates?" When Ashley looked at him confused he elaborated. "Are you telepathic, empathic, clairvoyant, psychic…" Her teacher prompted her.

"I can communicate telepathically with… a couple of my teammates." Ashley was hesitant to name names, it just seemed too personal.

"But not all of them? Have you tried with others?" Garwren seemed genuinely surprised and interested. It made Ashley squirm.

"I did once, with my family, but it doesn't seem to work on anyone else but them."

"That _is_ unusual." Garwren said thoughtfully, he turned to address the entire class and Ashley relaxed somewhat not being the direct focus of his scrutiny.

"One on one telepathic communication between family members is not all that uncommon, especially between siblings. And selective telepathy between two unrelated individuals is rare, but not unheard of. But, selective telepathy between three or more unrelated persons is even more unique than full telepathic ability. The odds of compatibility are just not in favor of such a feat."

The instructor's cool blue eyes turned back to Ashley with great interest before looking away and continuing his lecture. For the first time since attending this class in telekinesis she felt uncomfortably different. It had never bothered her that she was quite a bit older than her other classmates, she had known going in that most beginner's classes were for children. It hadn't bothered her that she was from Earth and some of her mannerisms and quirks were noticeably 'alien'. And since the children had never made much of a fuss over her being a Ranger after the first day she hadn't thought much about it either. But this was different.

It was probably because she was so use to it now that she never noticed how unusual what she, Andros and Zhane had was. They had never made a big deal out of it, so why should she? To her it almost felt like all Kerovan could do what they did. After all, three out of the four Kerovan that she had constant contact with could communicate telepathically with her, even if Karone's ability was probably more magic than telepathy. It was disconcerting to have it pointed out that something was different about her, besides being a Ranger and being from Earth.

Garwren went on to teach about the compatibility of energies made things like telepathy, empathy and mind reading possible. People that were able to change their own energy to match that of others were 'true' telepaths and empaths, and mind reading was the ability to manipulate other's energy to your own. Psychics on the other hand had a balance of both and were just generally more sensitive to the flow of power around them and tended not to be able to control their abilities. People that were selectively telepathic, empathic or mind readers were only compatible with the ones that they could use that ability on and was far more common.

He went on to talk about how some races were more in tune with certain energies: emotion, thought, memory and life itself. Humans seemed to possess a greater connection to thought and therefore telepathy was more common in humans than other races.

Garwren was about to go into why telekinesis was also an almost uniquely human ability, but the already long lecture was wearing on the young class. Lasey was the youngest of the group and he had already let his attention wonder to the point that he was pulling at the grass at his feet.

"I believe that will be enough of Theory today. Please separate with your partner and practice Out Reaching and Spinning."

As soon as he was done speaking a cheer rose up from the class and five sets of students scrambled to different parts of the glade. Lasey ineffectually tried to make Ashley move faster by pulling at her hand.

"Hurry up!" he chided her, using all of his slight weight to force her to their usual spot in the direct center of the clearing, where the light was the strongest.

"Slow down, Lasey!" Ashley teased, dragging her feet even more. "You're going too fast!"

"I'm not! You're too slow!"

With a quick move, Ashley swept her partner into the air and smiled when he started shrieking and laughing. Out of the corner of her eye, she caught Garwren giving them a disapproving frown. He had warned them on many occasions not to goof off during class, because it disrupted the other students, but when Ashley looked around he was the only one paying them any attention.

"Ok, you ready?" Ashley asked her partner when she put him back down. Lasey nodded and Ashley sat down on the grass with her legs wide enough apart for him to sit between them.

Normally telekinesis partners faced each other but because she was so much taller than Lasey it was more comfortable for some of the exercises for him in sit in her lap.

"Do we _have_ to do Reaching first?" the little boy complained looking down at her.

"Yes," Ashley told him with mock seriousness, drawing herself up straight, "because if we don't I won't be able to keep up with you in Spinning." 

"But, it makes me all tired!"

Ashley didn't say anything and just held out her arms. Lasey fell into them without any real protest and settled himself between her legs, facing away. Out Reaching was easy for Ashley and rather difficult for Lasey. It was an exercise in strength building, which she had plenty of and he did not.

When her partner was ready, Ashley laid her arms, palm up, on her knees, Lasey then placed his hands, palm down the stronger and more dominate position, a few inches above hers. Together they concentrated on reaching out to each other's hands with the force used to move objects.

The techniques that they used in their class were not typical of ones used in regular classes. Normally, telekinesis would be taught much the same way that Andros had started teaching her, but for this class each student had obstacles that had to be overcome, therefore a different approach was used. 

Out Reaching always produced a very strangely tingling, warm feeling and now that she had been practicing with Lasey for a few weeks she could even feel the difference between his telekinesis and her own. The idea wasn't to push or pull at your partner's hand, in fact that was impossible if the two of you used approximately the same amount of force, the two canceled each other out. The design of the exercise was to control your ability to draw on the force used for telekinesis.

Garwren had said that if a person became truly proficient in Out Reaching it was possible to feel something enter a bubble of force you create there by giving the wielder warning of it's approach and even stopping it if they were powerful enough. 

Although practicing Out Reaching with Lasey was useless in making Ashley stronger because the boy couldn't possibly generate as much force as she could, it was very good at teaching her to be aware of the amount of force she used. Since she was always trying to match what Lasey was doing Ashley had to be aware of his efforts. Plus, it got Ashley over the hump of not being able to use telekinesis unless she became frustrated or angry with her failed attempts.

Garwren had warned her that learning at her age was going to be difficult just because for so long she had never believed telekinesis was possible at all. The reason that Kerovan children had such an 'easy' time learning was because they believed that they could do it. They saw their parents, their siblings and even strangers do it and in their minds it wasn't a question of 'if' they could do it, just 'when'. Suddenly Lasey's hands dropped into Ashley's and the little boy sagged against her chest.

"Tired?" Ashley asked as she began to rub his shoulders. Lasey nodded.

"You are too strong." 

"That's because I'm old."

"Yeah."

Ashley continued to stroke his arms as she rested her cheek against his silky curls.

=====

Andros adjusted the angle of the Megaship's optical sensors when Ashley and her partner moved from behind the cover of the trees to the middle of the clearing. When she sat down to perform their first exercise, he leaned forward in his seat, rested his elbow on the console and then his chin in his hand.

Ashley was progressing in her studies quite quickly. The fact that she had jumped to a third level standing was testament to her natural ability and determination. If he had have been a better teacher or more attentive to her training Ashley could have been an even higher standing by now.

Idly, Andros used his free hand to swing his view around and zoom in closer to see Ashley's face. Her eyes were closed, as were those of the raven-haired child with her. Though she didn't seem to be concentrating as hard as her partner, every time the boy would flinch her eyelids would move just the slightest.

It wasn't often he got to just look at her like this. Recently it felt like every move he made was under inspection. If he looked at Zhane, Ashley watched him. If he looked at Ashley, Zhane would watch him. If he looked at neither one, Karone was watching, and Ty… Ty just watched all of them like they were some new interesting holo-movie. 

"Like the rest of KO-35." He muttered to himself.

Andros glanced up at the camera eye that was currently dormant. Maybe he _was_ making too big deal out of the whole situation as DECA had suggested. As she had pointed out there were dozens of tri-fold relationships of varying types and degrees on KO-35. They all had their own problems just like couples did. But, he bet none of them had to iron out their differences _and_ save the planet at the same time.

He never realized how much he would miss being an Astro Ranger. It wasn't just that his personal life was less complicated back then, but his Ranger life as well. Even though he had not known what to do with a complete Ranger team in the beginning, they had made it easy by already being such a functional unit on their own.

Now he had a team that was hampered by affairs of the heart and he was at the center of it. He was suppose to be the leader, the one that took care of the problems not cause them. Andros tried to push that all from his mind and focused back to the main screen.

The two students had moved on to the next telekinesis drill. This time they were facing each other with a red and yellow striped ball suspended between them. Now Ashley's face was set with concentration and her partner now took the more relaxed posture. 

The ball began spinning in place, blurring the two colors to orange. Ashley extended her arms towards the rotating object, her hands cupped as if to pull it from the air. Nothing happened. Still she continued to hold her hands out in the same fashion for quite some time before giving up. 

The little boy reached out his hands to the ball the same as Ashley had done, but the sphere stopped instantly, then started spinning in the opposite direction. Stopping a perfectly smooth, spinning object was not as easy as it looked, Andros knew that from experience. If the child could do that so effortlessly then he had a great deal of control.

Ashley shook her head, a playful scowl made her look comical when she wagged her finger at her partner. The boy laughed and then took up Ashley's hands in his own and placed them in the same position as before, but didn't pull away. Andros could see them speaking to each other, as they stayed there. After a while the ball started to slow, then eventually stop altogether.

Ashley pulled her hands back to rub at her temples. She winced slightly and scrunched up her eyes in obvious discomfort. Seemingly out of nowhere her teacher appeared. Even Ashley and her partner gave a little jump at the older man's presence. Andros leaned back in his chair, and tried to determine what the Master was saying when suddenly the lift to the bridge opened.

"…if you would have hurried we would have been able to see who Ashley's fooling around…" Zhane turned at that moment to see Andros jump to his feet, fumbling with controls behind his back, "…with." 

"What are you doing here?" the two childhood friends stammered at the same time.

Ty looked at Zhane's red and worried face, to Andros' equally red and embarrassed face, and then up to the main screen that showed some old, white haired gentleman kneeling behind Ashley, his hands on her shoulders as he spoke into her ear. 

"You know, on second thought, I don't think I want to know what's going on." With that he turned back to the lift and left.

"I guess you know about Ashley." Zhane said quietly as he looked down and picked at his fingers.

Andros sighed and briefly turned back to the screen. "Yeah. When did you find out?"

"Only this morning. I overheard her and Astrea talking."

There was a long pause between them and neither of them moved.

"Are you ok with it?" Zhane asked hesitantly.

"Well, sure." Andros told him with a shrug he couldn't see. "What else is she going to do?"

Zhane's head snapped up, his eyes wide. "Come to you for one thing!"

Again Andros only shrugged. "She probably thought that you would be upset if we started that up again."

"I think that I'm a little more upset that she's gone to someone else!" Zhane yelled gesturing to the screen where her instructor was holding her hands from behind her. "Aren't you?"

"Yeah, a little, but he knows what she needs better than I do."

If it was possible Zhane's eyes got bigger still. 

"How can you say that?!" He demanded, throwing his hands up. "What does Gramps over there have that you don't?"

Andros puzzled over Zhane's odd resistance to Ashley learning telekinesis from the older man, and the confusion was clear in his voice. 

"The time and the skill." He told Zhane simply.

Zhane dragged his hands over his face before turning his back on Andros. He stayed turned away for a few moments before whirling back around.

"So, you're ok with Ashley being with him?"

His friend's soft tone was at complete odds with his stiff body posture. Andros frowned, but answered the question. "Sure. He came highly recommended."

"What?!" 

Andros actually jumped at Zhane's exclamation and the anger that was behind it. 

"Zhane, what is your problem?"

"My problem… my problem? Why should there be a problem? Ashley's lying to us, out having an affair with a guy old enough to be her grandfather, someone that you say is highly skilled and that you seem to approve of. Nope, don't see a problem here."

After the shock of Zhane's outburst wore off, Andros couldn't help himself. Instead of getting angry like he imagined he should have because of Zhane's accusations, Andros fell down into his chair and started to laugh. He laughed so hard he cried. He laughed so hard his sides and his throat hurt. He really wanted to tell Zhane what was actually going on. Andros tried, but every time he'd look up and see the confused concern on Zhane's face he'd start back up again.

Many minutes later Andros got himself under control. After reassuring Zhane that he had not lost his mind because of Ashley's supposed affair, he explained to him what Ashley was up to. A very sheepish Silver Ranger sank down into the seat next to Andros and apologized profusely for his misconception. But, right on the heels of that apology was the beginnings of a plan to teach Ash and Karone a lesson for deceiving them.

Andros tilted his head and listened to the details of Zhane's plan that consisted of water balloons Jell-O while he watched Ashley work on her telekinesis. Somehow he knew that they would be all right.

End 


End file.
